Character-creation questions
9 February 2019 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodeI thought I had a pretty good handle on Raoul's personality, but running through this list of questions that are supposed to help you flesh out your character before you even start to write leaves me pretty much at a loss ;-p
(Which makes me more than ever sceptical about the 'character-sheet' approach to putting people in your stories, as opposed to my own instinctive technique of letting details 'emerge' about them as I go along, i.e. making up the backstory as I go!)
Right now? He wants to be on board the boat that's going to be putting out from the edge of the pack-ice -- because Erik is doing who-knows-what horrible things to Christine, or has already done them, and he, who made a big song and dance about wanting to protect her, is trapped hundrds of miles away.
Well, he's shy rather than gregarious.
Being laughed at, closely followed by not being taken seriously. The fact that he looks younger than he really is doesn't help, either.
Yes? Yes, I think I probably would. He may be jealous and impetuous, but he is also loyal, determined and resourceful. He never uses his social position against anyone (assuming he ever could), and when he behaves badly he almost instantly feels guilty about it, even if that reaction quite naturally leads him to behave worse. He addresses Christine and everyone else politely as 'vous' all the time, and has clearly been well brought-up ;-p
I really don't have much idea (other than daydreaming about Christine, who currently occupies an inordinate proportion of his thoughts). We know that he goes to the opera and responds instinctively to music; I would guess that he probably likes to read, because he's got a lot of romantic ideals that he certainly didn't acquire from his worldly-wise brother or from the experience of naval life. It's hard to see him as sporty, but on the other hand he climbs without hesitation out of a first-floor window and expects to be able to hit a man between the eyes with a pistol at a distance of ten paces or so (in the dark!), so he has evidently had some athletic training. We are told that it was his own desire as a child to go to sea.
Being patronised or ignored certainly irritates him (like all youngest siblings, I suspect). He's not socially confident and gets embarrassed easily, so attending busy social functions probably isn't his idea of a good time; on the other hand, he has probably been schooled since childhood on how to do his duty in such situations, so it isn't going to be his all-time nightmare scenario.
I really don't think we know very much about what he hates to do, because in canon we don't see him doing it; I've hypothesised that he both craves and dreads responsibility over others, and he certainly hates waiting around without any real idea as to where he stands where Christine is concerned (but then nobody would be likely to enjoy that).
Again, we don't really know, since in canon he not only fails to cheer himself up but generally doesn't even attempt it :-p
He rereads Christine's letters and dreams about the past...
Christine :-)
We don't really know what bores him, other than anything (like most people) that he isn't interested in; I don't suppose he would be very interested in sitting there listening to one of his contemporaries enthuse about the girl he escorted to the ball last night, for instance.
Poor Raoul, he isn't particularly good at anything. He is certainly no good at persuading Christine to do anything she doesn't want to do, and despite his best efforts he has no real success as a detective in discovering the reason for her strange actions. As before mentioned, he does demonstrate unexpected athletic ability at a couple of points, and apparently old ladies are fond of him ;-p
He manages to organise an elopement (including travel arrangements) in the space of about twelve hours, which demonstrates an organisational ability that tends to get overlooked, since he never actually gets to use any of the facilities he has arranged...
I think he's reasonably happy with his nautical career (it was his choice, after all), except where it takes him away from Christine at a time when their relationship is desperately uncertain. (I can see him married to Christine and daydreaming quite cheerfully about her at sea in the knowledge that she will be waiting for him when he gets back...)
We don't know why he wanted to join the navy, except that he saw the cadets training in Brest on a daily basis when he was living there in his youth. I've hypothesised in one story that he and his sisters had been kept very much shut away down in the country after their mother died (certainly the girls don't marry until after Philippe inherits, at which point they must have been already in their twenties), and that he saw the sea as the ultimate limitless horizon to escape from that.
Right now, worrying about his responsibilities for the lives of nine other men...
I'm not sure we ever see him get insulted as such, as opposed to being laughed at, dismissed, belittled etc. His reaction to the latter is to get flushed, frustrated and desperate, and possibly shed tears in consequence -- a personal attack I think would take him very much by surprise. He *has* benefited from that much privilege, after all; people simply don't shout random insults at the Vicomte de Chagny, not because they particularly respect him but because it would disrupt the accepted conventions of society and therefore would not be readily tolerated.
He might even respond to an insult by getting angry :-p
His vulnerabilities and insecurities. He wants to be seen as grown-up. I'm not sure he actually goes round broadcasting his feelings for Christine to all and sundry, although it doesn't keep him from making anxious and betraying enquiries on her behalf; he certainly doesn't want people to know that she fails to return his affections, or at least that he fears that she does. He doesn't tell Philippe the real reason why he returns home in tears one evening, for example (although his brother presumably guesses that Christine is somehow involved).
Old ladies ;-)
Madame Valerius used to be fond of him, as was Christine's father. Christine, obviously (even if it means she has to sneak off to unobserved places to be alone with him). His brother likes to take him out and show him a good time (while boasting about Raoul's achievements), but he is very genuinely fond of him -- I don't know how much time they spend together indoors, as opposed to attending events together, but despite the twenty-year age gap I'd like to think that they can quietly enjoy one another's company.
I can see Raoul being attractive to women, actually (without realising it); he's bashful and non-threatening, good-looking in an understated way, polite and well-trained, 'gentle like a girl and brave like a man', and he's never going to toy with a woman's affections or court her solely for her money (his family are wealthy, which makes him a good match from that point of view). I can also see him appealing to a certain type of adventurous matron in a slightly predatory desire to enjoy his innocence :-p
No idea. Probably somewhere with nostalgic associations, whether recent or childhood...
The trouble with this is that you're supposed to be inspired to consider the questions and derive the answers; I can't help approaching it from the fan-fiction/literary criticism perspective, where you look in the existing corpus of text for clues!
(Which makes me more than ever sceptical about the 'character-sheet' approach to putting people in your stories, as opposed to my own instinctive technique of letting details 'emerge' about them as I go along, i.e. making up the backstory as I go!)
What does your character want more than anything else in the world right now, and why?
Right now? He wants to be on board the boat that's going to be putting out from the edge of the pack-ice -- because Erik is doing who-knows-what horrible things to Christine, or has already done them, and he, who made a big song and dance about wanting to protect her, is trapped hundrds of miles away.
Does he prefer interacting with others or being by himself?
Well, he's shy rather than gregarious.
What is his greatest fear?
Being laughed at, closely followed by not being taken seriously. The fact that he looks younger than he really is doesn't help, either.
Would you want someone to treat you or your friends the way he treats other people?
Yes? Yes, I think I probably would. He may be jealous and impetuous, but he is also loyal, determined and resourceful. He never uses his social position against anyone (assuming he ever could), and when he behaves badly he almost instantly feels guilty about it, even if that reaction quite naturally leads him to behave worse. He addresses Christine and everyone else politely as 'vous' all the time, and has clearly been well brought-up ;-p
What does he like to do in his spare time?
I really don't have much idea (other than daydreaming about Christine, who currently occupies an inordinate proportion of his thoughts). We know that he goes to the opera and responds instinctively to music; I would guess that he probably likes to read, because he's got a lot of romantic ideals that he certainly didn't acquire from his worldly-wise brother or from the experience of naval life. It's hard to see him as sporty, but on the other hand he climbs without hesitation out of a first-floor window and expects to be able to hit a man between the eyes with a pistol at a distance of ten paces or so (in the dark!), so he has evidently had some athletic training. We are told that it was his own desire as a child to go to sea.
What does he hate to do? What irritates him?
Being patronised or ignored certainly irritates him (like all youngest siblings, I suspect). He's not socially confident and gets embarrassed easily, so attending busy social functions probably isn't his idea of a good time; on the other hand, he has probably been schooled since childhood on how to do his duty in such situations, so it isn't going to be his all-time nightmare scenario.
I really don't think we know very much about what he hates to do, because in canon we don't see him doing it; I've hypothesised that he both craves and dreads responsibility over others, and he certainly hates waiting around without any real idea as to where he stands where Christine is concerned (but then nobody would be likely to enjoy that).
How does he cheer himself up when he's feeling sad?
Again, we don't really know, since in canon he not only fails to cheer himself up but generally doesn't even attempt it :-p
He rereads Christine's letters and dreams about the past...
What could he talk about for hours, given the chance? What topics bore him?
Christine :-)
We don't really know what bores him, other than anything (like most people) that he isn't interested in; I don't suppose he would be very interested in sitting there listening to one of his contemporaries enthuse about the girl he escorted to the ball last night, for instance.
What is he good at? What is he bad at?
Poor Raoul, he isn't particularly good at anything. He is certainly no good at persuading Christine to do anything she doesn't want to do, and despite his best efforts he has no real success as a detective in discovering the reason for her strange actions. As before mentioned, he does demonstrate unexpected athletic ability at a couple of points, and apparently old ladies are fond of him ;-p
He manages to organise an elopement (including travel arrangements) in the space of about twelve hours, which demonstrates an organisational ability that tends to get overlooked, since he never actually gets to use any of the facilities he has arranged...
If he could have any job she wanted, what would it be? Why does he want that particular job?
I think he's reasonably happy with his nautical career (it was his choice, after all), except where it takes him away from Christine at a time when their relationship is desperately uncertain. (I can see him married to Christine and daydreaming quite cheerfully about her at sea in the knowledge that she will be waiting for him when he gets back...)
We don't know why he wanted to join the navy, except that he saw the cadets training in Brest on a daily basis when he was living there in his youth. I've hypothesised in one story that he and his sisters had been kept very much shut away down in the country after their mother died (certainly the girls don't marry until after Philippe inherits, at which point they must have been already in their twenties), and that he saw the sea as the ultimate limitless horizon to escape from that.
What does he think about when he's alone, other than his angsty past or his love interest?
Right now, worrying about his responsibilities for the lives of nine other men...
How does he react to being insulted?
I'm not sure we ever see him get insulted as such, as opposed to being laughed at, dismissed, belittled etc. His reaction to the latter is to get flushed, frustrated and desperate, and possibly shed tears in consequence -- a personal attack I think would take him very much by surprise. He *has* benefited from that much privilege, after all; people simply don't shout random insults at the Vicomte de Chagny, not because they particularly respect him but because it would disrupt the accepted conventions of society and therefore would not be readily tolerated.
He might even respond to an insult by getting angry :-p
What does he not want other people to know about him?
His vulnerabilities and insecurities. He wants to be seen as grown-up. I'm not sure he actually goes round broadcasting his feelings for Christine to all and sundry, although it doesn't keep him from making anxious and betraying enquiries on her behalf; he certainly doesn't want people to know that she fails to return his affections, or at least that he fears that she does. He doesn't tell Philippe the real reason why he returns home in tears one evening, for example (although his brother presumably guesses that Christine is somehow involved).
Who would want to spend time with him, and why?
Old ladies ;-)
Madame Valerius used to be fond of him, as was Christine's father. Christine, obviously (even if it means she has to sneak off to unobserved places to be alone with him). His brother likes to take him out and show him a good time (while boasting about Raoul's achievements), but he is very genuinely fond of him -- I don't know how much time they spend together indoors, as opposed to attending events together, but despite the twenty-year age gap I'd like to think that they can quietly enjoy one another's company.
I can see Raoul being attractive to women, actually (without realising it); he's bashful and non-threatening, good-looking in an understated way, polite and well-trained, 'gentle like a girl and brave like a man', and he's never going to toy with a woman's affections or court her solely for her money (his family are wealthy, which makes him a good match from that point of view). I can also see him appealing to a certain type of adventurous matron in a slightly predatory desire to enjoy his innocence :-p
What is his favourite place to be?
No idea. Probably somewhere with nostalgic associations, whether recent or childhood...
The trouble with this is that you're supposed to be inspired to consider the questions and derive the answers; I can't help approaching it from the fan-fiction/literary criticism perspective, where you look in the existing corpus of text for clues!